Prudent Penny: Kitchen Compost
We haven't done a Prudent Penny post in a while. And this time I'm talkin' trash.
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| Before... |
Have
you ever tried composting? It is super easy to do and there is
absolutely nothing better for your garden or potted plants than compost.
Here's the link to when we built our mega-giant compost bins.
I
looked for months for a small covered waste bin that I could tuck in a
corner of my kitchen and toss my food scraps. I finally found one the
perfect size, but not the perfect price. They wanted 30 bucks for that
sucker.
I don't think so.
So
I opted for a frugal and low-tech solution and used a large cottage
cheese container. It's not pretty, but it works and I emptied it daily
to my big compost bin outside.
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| ...and After |
I was so ecstatic I squeezed the breath out of her. :) She could not have given me a better birthday present. I'm one of those people who loves practical gifts and this one sent me to the moon. (Mel knows me so well.)
I don't know how she's going to top it this year. But Mel, if you're reading, I am really hankering for a few pounds of wiggly earthworms so I can start worm farming.
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| Wormy x a hundred |
I
compost everything except oils and meats. Veggie peelings, eggshells, tea
and coffee grounds all go into my little bin. The only thing I leave out
is orange and lemon peels. The lemon peels I run through the garbage
disposal to keep it smelling fresh, but orange peels are frozen for when
I need zest for my cranberry cookies.
Does anyone out there compost? Am I the only one who thinks earthworms
and scrap bins are excellent gifts? I won't think less of you if compost
bins don't turn you on. :wink:
Comments
Ref: Little bastards make a break for it if I drop a teabag on the ground outside, though.
Hardened criminals, eh? I'll keep that in mind.
Yeah, I don't cook and I don't garden. I'm strange that way.
On the other hand, as kids they were fascinating to us :) We didn't mind turning the soil and blending the compost, though we left the manure to Dad, LOL
But you have land...lots of space between you and potential worm beds. In that situation, I'd have them again.
My composting goes in cycles. Sometimes I'm really good about it others, like right now, not so much. I love that you freeze peels for zest!! Why on earth haven't I been doing that?!
Raelyn: Freezing orange peels came to me when I had to go out in the middle of the night and buy a stupid orange for a little zest. Instead I bought a bag of oranges. As I ate the oranges, I froze the peels and now I just zest them when I need them.
Invention is the mother of having to drive 30 miles for a stupid orange. :)
RE: worms -- I've actually bought worms, twice, from www.biconet.com. The first time, the FedEx guy was pretty sure I'd lost my mind (of course a few days later, my praying matis babies came ... so I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm loopy). I've tried to figure out how to do a worm composting bin, but DH wouldn't deal with one indoors, and outdoors here wouldn't work because of the winters.
So I baby the ones in my garden instead. :-)
And earthworms...uh, hmmm...nope on that point to. I saw how to make a cute little wormery (I think that's what they called it) with dirt, a 2 liter bottle and some earthworms. I may do that with my kiddo. She'll probably get a kick out of it.
Marianne: The last time I raised them it was in a shed. I honestly don't remember any odors. It just has a dirt smell (if that makes sense).
Ref: bins
Those composters are expensive. It's highway robbery. It costs less to buy a full sized metal garbage can.
Angela: I hadn't thought of doing it as a kid's science project. She could see them go through their life cycle and then you can dump them in a park--or bring them to me. LOL.
Like you, we put lemon down the ate disposal - not that we use it often these days. I'm envious of your stainless pail. We use an old ice cream carton with a lid. Not ideal, but it does the job.
Can you share the cranberry cookie recipe one day? Cranberries have only been readily available here in recent years, and the combination of orange and cranberry is very enticing.
I have two large plastic ice cream containers that sit underneath my kitchen sink. One in the back is for compost (tea and coffee grounds, egg shells, our hair from home cuts, the dog and cat's hair, broccoli stems, potato peels, etc.). One in the front is for all of our table scraps that we feed our chickens.
I've found the trick to lowering the odor, is to simply Empty Every Day! This is my youngest child's chore. I'm drill sergeant around here, so it comes as second nature for me to say, "I KNOW you already took care of that compost, right?"
I have one large area, framed on three sides by thin cedar posts, where we dump all of our compost from the kitchen... daily (wink), and where we add Bunny poo, Horse poo, Chicken poo, grass clippings, sometimes a small smattering of the bazillion of leaves that fall from our oak trees, ashes from our campfires and fireplace, and of course, our jack-o-lanterns each fall, which seed and grow several nice vines for more pumpkins the following year for us.
Composting has, most definitely, been the success of our vegetable garden every year (with exception, those years someone forgot to water while I was out of town).
LOVE composting!
Shelly: My kitchen is upside down, but as soon as I find my recipe file, I will post it and send you a copy.
All right. I won't hold you to the worms. But I still love my composter and I love you too. Hope you and the baby are well. --Ed too. :)
Thanks for reminding me. And thank you for sharing your ideas!
And that has nothing to do with anything, does it?
Sigh.
Right now, I have a big ol' pot with a lid on the stove in a compostable bag. We just toss everything in there and tie it off and put it out in the bins. (We use the bags because it's less messy outside...we have a lot of bird and squirrel and cat life and the bags make it harder for them w/o hurting them...Also, the bags help keep the compost warmer in the winter, so it breaks down better once it thaws.
Krista: That is so smart to use bags in colder climates. I imagine it's a good deal more trouble for you than where I live.
I bagged up some grass clippings once and it got left behind over the winter. One day I noticed the chickens going nuts by some tall grass. It was where I had forgotten the bag of clippings. It had turned into a mushy mess, but it was like candy to them. And it even had a name--silage.
But we also have an indoor little stainless steel one as well.
And i REALLY want to have a worm bin, especially for winter composting, but we don't reallly have the room for it.
Sigh. Some day...
Hey, if it makes you happy, ...
Sarah: I'd love to hear your journey when you start worm farming. I read about one person who lived in Canada who raised a small bed of worms under her kitchen sink. She swears it gave off no odor.
Suzanne: Poor wormies. I can't believe so many people hate them. LOL.
Southpaw: Worms are good for the soil and great feed for chickens--of which I have many beaks to feed. :)
Misha: If only I could meet your uncle so we could trade pig stories.
Mike: At least your community composts. We live in an unincorporated area. We're lucky to get internet. :)